Watch this discussion.Stop watching this discussion.

Mrs. Bethea said in the paper she put out stating her qualifications that the Police were underpaid, needed cars that did not break down, and more. If she had attended the Council meetings, she would have know that the Council had voted to get new automobiles, new radios, and new radars. Some of the new automobiles have begun arriving, and the radios are now being tested. As far as the Police being underpaid, the Police and Fire men get 67 per-cent of the budget. The department of the city that does the maintenance of streets, sewers, etc. are under staffed and they could use a raise in pay, but the city does not have the funds for anyone to get a raise. If Mrs. Buttler would quit paying temporary employees $50,00 per hour, maybe there would be enough money to hire workers for that department. I have never been against a raise for the Police and Firemen. But when you do not have the money how can you give them a raise, The past City Council and City Manager left the city in a financial crunch. In order to get a balanced budget without raising taxes, every department had to make cuts. There is no way the city could give the Police a 30 per-cent raise without shutting down the department that maintains the streets, sewers, and etc. By electing people that do not understand how a budget works, is not doing the citizens or the city Government any good. It can only put the city back like it was before we made a change. Both of the candidates that ran against Mr. Osteen wanted the city to help the School Board. Again , they have no knowledge of how the city operates. If Mr. Osteen losses this selection, he will not be the biggest loser, the city of La Marque will be the biggest losers.

Jake, it's sad to think that with voter turn out being so poor up until this point, it's obvious that people in LM just don't care about good city governance any more.

The city of LM now has the money available to purchase all of this needed equipment with the help of ALL city council members including Mr. Osteen who was one of the major players who helped watching over the budget to make it all possible.

If Mr. Osteen should lose this election to someone with NO experience, NO job and who lives with his parents and doesn't understand what it means to city pay taxes himself then the city gets what they deserve.

In the future, the city of LM might as well elect our favorite pet to become council members and mayor seeing how our town will become so insignificant as the school district has become that the police and fire department won't need these radio's and new cars anyway,

Rest in peace city of LM, your days look bleak and numbered because of it's own citizens who obviously are thinking and will be voting with their hearts and not their head...[sad]

There has been low voter turnout in the last three elections. It seems that the citizens of La Marque just don't care about what our elected people do. Without Mr. Osteen, there will be no one to ride heard on the Mayor and city Manager. Because of the revenge of the Betheas Mrs Trube has been made in effected. Race was not jntroduced until after the primary results were in. I know of at least two lies they put in their complaint. I think they were so embarrassed by her poor showing that this is just a revenge act. I thought that sort of thing went out in grade school. If James loses this election, they will have their revenge, but at what cost to the citizens of La Marque? Saturday ls the last day to vote. James can win this election if the people will get out and vote. If the Mayor, Mrs. Buttler, Mrs. Trube and the Betheas fail to take the polygraph test, the kangaroo court will be back in session, and justice will not prevail.

Danngit,,,,, I'm a little dyslexic this morning obviously, "If Mr. Osteen should lose this election to someone with NO experience, NO job and who lives with his parents and doesn't understand what it means to "pay" city taxes himself then the city gets what they deserve".

To follow up o what I said about Mrs. Trube being in effective. The Mayor, heard what the Betheas had to say and decided to call a special meeting without knowing all of the facts...He came by several times a day, and he knows that we were there every day. Why did he call the special meeting without hearing what we had to say? It seems that the Mayor had found Connie guilty. she was convicted in the Mayor's kangaroo court. And why did the so called alleged statement made in 2012 un important in 2012 and yet it was important enough to bring up now. It is my opinion that the Mayor and the City Manager would like to get rid of the watch dogs of La Marque. Connie has been made in effective. So who will now be the watch dog? Maybe the watch dogs will join in on chewing on the bones. But if the citizens fail to vote I assume they do not care how their tax money is spent. I guess the citizens do not care if their taxes get raised to pay for the un controlled spending.

During the investigation they also need to ask others who were heard on the tape who the "unknown person" on the tape is as well because that in itself will be very telling to others.

Our city has moved forward these last couple of years due in great part to our current city council members to the point that our budget allows for these new police/fire radios, new cars for the police department, etc. However, obviously people have their own self agendas and are willing to destroy an entire community in order to fulfill their desires.

Some people better be careful what they wish for, just look down the road at the current condition of LMISD and see what happened to them when they did the exact same thing and got exactly what they asked for!

Polygraph examinations for all by an outside agency that has no connection with La Marque P.D.

Walter, I understand Ms. Butler has hired two more of her friends from out of town to fill Mike Morgan's position. This position like many others have not been posted on the bulletin board at city hall nor posted with TML. I'm sure there are unemployed citizens in LM that would like to apply for a job with the City of La Marque.

I am very surprised that you've decided to make an attempt to publicly malign and excoriate the characters of the Mayor and City Manager of LM! You are asking many questions which are apparent and self explanatory. - The Mayor took over the position of Mayor at a time when this city was about to explode with racial tension and you of all people should know this! Tell African-Americans that a sitting LM Council member was asking questions about cutting funding for a city library because only African-Americans was using it at that time would have GAIN HIM WHAT? -The Mayor called a meeting for the good of everybody to be fair, and try to handle the damage done. Was he supposed to say, "HEY, LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL, AND DO NOTHING?" Now you are always bringing Mr. Gage's name up, and how he messed this city's finances up, Well Mayor SAM was trying to tell everybody just what you was trying to tell them but WHO ON COUNCIL AT THAT TIME WAS STANDING FIRMLY BEHIND MR GAGE? I want you to say the names, because one of them is still there on council! "SAY IT!"-I'm A-Political, and a proud Independent Voter, which means I'm not so much in love with either party for me to call myself one in their numbers. So then, If I thought any of your accusations HAD A SNOWBALL'S CHANCE IN HELL OF BEING TRUE against the man I KNOW who is sitting in the MAYOR'S seat, I'd call him out myself!You would not have to do it!-I recognize the job, Mr Osteen has done and I urge all the constituents in his district to allow this man to keep his seat for the good of ALL THE CONSTITUENTS OF THIS CITY! However, I will not say the same about every member presently sitting on that council, you might, I can't. I think trying to unseat Councilman Osteen was ill thought out, but recognizing that the council needs new blood was RIGHT ON THE MONEY,

Another thing, If somebody accused me of wrong doing(s)....and I had a chance to show them up to be a pack of liars, I'd jump on that chance like a DUCK on a June Beetle! ( Polygraph ). I would feel like if I was being accused, and I was innocent, then I'm going to prove my accusers to be liars, unless..........!-You sure you don't want to wait until the investigations comes back? All I'm hearing are un-substantiated angry, innuendos, conjectures, and hyperbole statements meant to rally and excite people to get out and vote. Also to sweep under the rug what was alleged to have been said, and done in that parking lot doing the last election!

Connie has stated she would take a polygraph test. Bobby has said he would take one also... The Betheas and Carol should take the test also. I bet the test will not be given.. If they all agree , the tests should be done NOW. But don't hold your breath. JBG, ask yourself this question. James has not been accused of any wrong doings, so why are the Betheas going all out to support Lane? James is being a victim . But that was the plan from the beginning. They want to get rid of Connie and James. Race was not a factor in this election, but sore losers made race to be an issue.

JBG , When we had the new Mayor and new Council, and the new City Manager, I know of no race problem at that time. Mayor Sam had already been recalled . Councilman Osteen and Mayor Hocking would ask me after each meeting for quite a while, "how do you think things are going?" My answer was, "you do not see me addressing Council any more," "If you see me address the Council , you can bet there is a problem." I still question why Mayor Hocking called that special meeting without asking for our side of the issues. I know of at least two lies the Betheas had in their statements JBG, I have always respected your opinion., but in this case I think you ore wrong. About six months ago I began having doubts about Mayor Hocking and City Manager Buttler.I was hoping that the issues were mistakes, and that things would get back on track. That has not happened., I am sorry to say. I like both Bobby and Carol, but I cannot overlook problems.

Your absolutely right Mr. Payne, I'm sure that LM has qualified people who pay taxes in LM that would love to work in their own hometown!

That tad bit of information that you shared with us is exactly why some in the city want to get rid of certain people because they don't want experienced eyes watching their every move.

This is exactly what happened over at LMISD, they RIF'd lot's of innocent people thinking that they were getting rid of my contacts and as everyone can still see, I STILL have my sources and get RELIABLE information to their surprise.

Earlybird,I'm sorry, but when all hell has broken loose in your city, the way people feel, with their ruffled emotions, and all that just don't disappear from one day to the next. I'm really sorry you feel the way you do about this but as I said before, you admitted you were among those telling those off colored jokes on that parking lot.-Your own words were, "We had no bad intentions, it was just a LONG day!" "We were telling jokes about many ethnic groups!" Now I got to tell you, as I have many times before, I have much respect for you, but in this type situation, your objectivity can be called into question here, because you were involved in the incident(s) in question on that parking lot. Another thing, the Mayor might have looked at you like I view you now, and that is someone personally involved in a situation, which is being INVESTGATED! Therefore, I can see why YOU would not want a meeting to take place at all.-Now I choose to believe the Mayor did what he thought should have been done,and I'm in full agreement, when he called a special meeting to look at what happened with the rest of council there. I noticed you still have not named those "THREE AMIGOS" who stood behind everything and every move Mr. GAGE made when he was here wheeling and dealing at City hall! One of those "AMIGOS" is still on council,...right? -If my memory serves me correctly, you were very vocally against everything they stood for because of their BLIND support for Mr. GAGE! You called them the RUBBER STAMP CREW! Now,..one city official has already resigned, and apologized before he did,... for his part in this fiasco. If the Mayor had no need to call a meeting, to discuss these things with the other sitting council members, WHY THEN DID A CITY OFFICIAL APLOGIZE AND RESIGN HIS POSITION?-Another question is where was all this supposed to take place on the door steps of city hall, or by conference call? There is nothing personal in this with me, but I'm simply telling you that the man whose character you are maligning here is the man I know to have a hellava lot more integrity and character than what you are posting about in this forum. When LM needed him the most and in the worst way, HE STEPPED UP, and now the citizens of this city need to follow my lead, and step up for him! I personally don't think we would be where we are today without the leadership of this present Council, Mayor, and department Heads! Nobody can deny Mr. Osteen has done a great job, and people, in his district, BLACK and WHITE alike, should vote this man back in office to help the Mayor and Council to go forward. We are going to need him in the days and months to follow! I endorse him because of his dedication, and attention to duty and the taxpayers. However, as I said before, LM City Council needs to be looked at, and incidents and events recently proves this to be true. This council can stand some fine tuning! A council member recently said, MY CITIZENS,...I guess Mr. Bell's citizens are his, and The other Council members have their citizens too!-Somehow I kind of thought they worked for the CITY OF LM! That is the thing about single member districts, they divide more than they unify! I know one thing and I will tell it now. People here need to decide what kind of city they want RIGHT NOW, because we cannot all climb into our little single member CLIQUES and operate divided and expect to flourish, prosper and survive! A house, or city divided, shall NOT STAND!! I will continue to defend what the City Manager, Department Heads, Mayor, and Council have done for this city!-

I am not against a meeting about the charges. What I am against is the fact that only one side was presented. There were at least two lies in their statements. In the closed session, Connie was asked to resign. Hearing only one side of the issue she was convicted in the kangaroo court. The big lie was that Connie had mouthed Ms.. Long. Connie had nothing but praise for Ms. Long. The only way to arrive at the proof is for all to take polygraphs. I will lay odds that they will not take place. Certain people want to get both Connie and James off of the Council. There were no charges against James but the Betheas have thrown their support to Chris. Why? Because James was the target from the beginning. And if you think the Mayor and the City Manager do not want to see James gone from the Council you have not been paying attention to the Council meetings. Both would love to see the watchdog gone. James has saved the city much money, but because of this power play James will probably lose the election. At first I thought it was about revenge because of the poor third place showing by Mrs. Bethea, but it goes much deeper than that. Again, the only way to arrives at the truth is polygraphs.

Well I hear you Earlybird. I hear you, but let me say this. Ms. Trube was not convicted of anything! Accusations were made just like those you are making now. Unless you know something I don't, Ms. Trube is a LM City Council Member today. She did not go anywhere. Convicted? Of what? Please remember there is STILL that tape out there which is being investigate and it is said that Mr. Trube is on that tape. I have not heard the thing so I'm waiting on the finding of the investigations!-Now, as for Mr. Osteen! Oh ye of little faith! I have more faith that Mr. Osteen can win this election than some of his friends. So What if Ms. Bethea wants Mr. Lane to win. Mr. Lane seems to be a very astute young man, but I don't think he has the right experience right now in order to sit in this council seat at the expense of Mr. Osteen.-It is time to elect public servants on their merits and not because of some political agenda. I personally stood up against this type of thinking in the military and in my personal life. "WE AND THEM!!" It Stinks to high heaven!!! Why don't the people of district B, just man up, be honest, and vote for the candidate with the experience, the track record, and service to his credit? That then would be Mr. Osteen! I'm sorry that the man is WHITE,....but he has DONE THE JOB! -Another thing, I want to mention is something I heard concerning the city helping LMISD! LMISD does not need any help from the City of LM!! I don't know where that comes from or how it got started! LMISD has at the helm now what was needed FROM THE VERY BEGINNING, A DAM LEADER,...who knows where it is she wants to go, she is tenacious, has the confidence, the necessary ability, knowledge, and skills to get the job done!-Our most pressing need now is for us to get behind that effort, and push her forward!So lets not confuse the two issues here. You don't reward excellency by telling a council member who has worked hard for this city to get the hell out of dodge! Now if you just have to do that, YOU just have to do it, then make sure YOU pick one who needs to get out of DODGE, because Mr. Osteen is not in that category! That's for real!-Now, lets get back to the Mayor wanting the watchdog gone. WHY? You think the Mayor wants to misappropriate city money or something? Come on now, be real! I'm not going to comment on Ms. Long, because you are not addressing my questions I've ask you to address. You are very cleverly maneuvering around the questions I've asked you to address concerning Mr. Gage, and those who supported his doings here as City Manager! Lets talk about that. Quit trying to play me like they do in politics.-If you hadn't bought the Mayor and City manager in this, you and I would probably be on the same side of these issues, because I want to see Mr. Osteen win this thing as much as you. I was raised to reward hard work, and is the reason I urge District "B" LM voters to send Mr. Osteen back to his seat on Council. Mr. Lane will have his chance, but truthfully I don't think it is now. It is time for citizens to do what is right for a change, and NOT what is political correct, or politically advantageous!-Lastly, you are now supporting Ms. Trube, and I am not, so I don't know what to tell you other than lets wait until the findings are in and go from there. That is as fair as I can get! I think it is preposterous and unconscionable for you to come out trying to throw the MAYOR and the City Manager of LM under the bus, in an effort to take the spotlight off of what transpired on the city parking lot of at the last election! Mr. Obama is doing the same thing now with his handling of the POW SWAP. He wants us to forget about all those VETERANS being left to die for lack of well deserved medical care. I urge you to continue to be passionate in this community. It is one of the reasons I have liked you from way back, but....be fair my friend.

JBG. The reason I said Connie was already convicted was she was asked to resign in the closed session. Sounds like a conviction in their minds to me. As far as me saying James will lose the election is because the voters are not getting out to vote. Mr. Lane is getting his voters out. And when they took west of Lake road away from James he lost a lot of his supporters. Several of them tried to vote for James but were turned away because they were no longer in his district. When the citizens do not think enough of their city to vote, anything can happen. The last three times at the polls was a disgrace because so few voter came out to vote. Why should anyone run for any office in La Marque , when the citizens do not care?

If people are still voting based on how people look and not what they can do, after all the evidence presented daily for years on end at all levels of society and in all endeavors attesting to the folly of that, then those folks simply cannot be fixed.Unfortunately, too often, everyone gets what only those deserve...

Isn't it awfully coincidental that since this whole mess has started and now an investigation is ongoing regarding this matter the city of LM is mysteriously and unexpectedly having problems with their phone system, as well as, all of their email access??

So, why hasn't this not been fixed like yesterday???

The things that make you go hmmmmm.... geez, where's that fishy smell coming from???[whistling]

Buck, post 601. They were screwing the boy over, buy giving him all the jobs to do that no other would do. He was definitely over-loaded. They hired and assistant after Nathan left to help Morgan out. They paid this assistant $50.00 an hour to assist Mike Morgan. Morgan's salary with benefits, was about $24.00 an hour. Ms. Butlers friend from out of town was being paid more than Morgan, who he was there to assist. Now she has hired two more individual friends from out of town, one of them is the husband to another of her $50.00 an hour employees who works from her home in La Porte. I think there is a nepotism clause in the charter making this a violation of policy..

Ms. Butler hires these personal friends, without posting these positions available on the bulletin board at City Hall or through TML.

James exposed those $50.00 per hour friends of Carol. That is why she would like to get rid of James. Not to mention all the times he caught money mistakes on the agenda the Council members received. This was for thousands of dollars. If James is not there to catch these "errors" there will be no one to catch the Mistakes, and the mistakes will go un noticed. Can anyone blame Morgan from quitting? That coupled with the fact he did not have enough people to do the work. How many productive workers could those $50.00 per hour expenditures could Mr.. Morgan have had? And lets not forget the $32.000.00 shortage in the water department? Carol said it was a charge made to a customer in error, that was written off. Weeks ago Connie requested a copy of that water bill. To this day, she has not gotten it. That has a kind of a smell to it.

Gentlemen,The investigation had to be done. We should not be in thewink - wink business here. If anybody's hand get caught insidethe cookie jar then TO BAD!!!! That is my take on the matter.BRING IT ON!!!!

So the burning question that everyone keeps asking is why the urgency to spend $10k of taxpayers dollars to do an investigation when the information has already been turned over to the FBI and the Dept of Justice?

It really does make people question what's really going on in city hall that Requires the city to do their own investigation before the FBI or DOJ does their's?

Mr. Manuel,If the investigation wasn't done, then I would question what is going on at City Hall. We can't have it both ways! Then also, there could be city rules, and regulations and rules of conduct which the City could act on immediately without waiting from six months to a year, before the FBI or Justice Department even decide to take a look at the requests submitted to them concerning anything here. -I think the Council was right to go ahead and do what they could do, and if somebody's feeling got hurt, Oh Well! This a country of choices, NOBODY held a weapon on anybody and made them do or say what was said or done! If there were WRONGDOING going on at City Hall my question would be, ... why was it kept a secret? Why were we constantly on LMISD's *&^ and it would seem that some who were,... knew that there were situations going on at City Hall but until somebody's foot got stepped on, it stayed secret? I'm beginning to wonder about things now myself, concern just what kind of community we have here!!!-I'm not accusing nobody of anything here, but I'm hearing a lot accusations and chatter, that is beginning to connect up to something, to what, I'm not sure yet. So, I will keep watching to see if I can get 2+2 to equal 4!

Like JBG, I have been a fan of Bobby and Carol. About 5 or 6 months ago I began too hear things at the Council meetings that bothered me, but I didn't want to believe they had changed. James kept pointing out the errors. At one meeting Bobby and James had a heated discussion , and Bobby's feathers were clearly ruffled. At the next meeting Bobby publicly apologized to James. The mistakes on money matters in Carol's agenda to the Council continued. Still I remained quite. But when Bobby called the special meeting and did not seek the facts from both sides , I felt it was time for me to admit to myself that there are problems that need to be solved. When Bobby and Carol brought up something that Connie was supposed to have said in 2012 , that they did not follow up on , but revealed this allegation at the special meeting. Seems to me they were just wanting to add fuel to the fire. At this point it has only been a " he said, she said " proposition. It had not yet been investigated , but Connie was asked to resign. Seems that Connie had been convicted without a trial, that is , except for the kangaroo court. I have no doubt that Bobby and Carol would like to see Connie and James removed from the Council. And because both James and Connie are against the 30 per-cent raise for the Police, CLEAT wants both of them to go. Their hero , that they supported with money and appearances with Mrs. Bethea at the early voting, failed to make the run off. It seems that Connie and James are going up against a giant, Goliath. The whole truth will never come out unless Connie , Bobby and his wife, and both of the Betheas take the polygraph tests. But don't hold your breath waiting on these tests. don't think they want the truths to come out. These issues can be solved if all of them submit to the test. What does the next chapter hold?

Mr. Payne, I believe that La Marque has a qualified city manager, however she has been given too much control by city council to do whatever she wants to do in running the city and it's starting to appear that this only benefits her and her own friends and not those dedicated city employees that have worked for years with the city in hopes of one day advancing to higher levels in their positions.

Mrs. Buttler definitely needs her wings clipped and to be reminded that she works for the LM city council members, as well as, the LM taxpayers and not the other way around.

When someone hires a friend of a friend of a friend, then that organization definitely has a problem.

Earlybird,One of the reasons I like you is, because I've seen you stand firmly against the flow of the "CROWD" before, and against what was popular! It takes guts to do that. Believe me I know,....because I've been there and were compelled to do the same thing only in places where someone could easily do you a lot of harm and get away with it. They could have carried me on a long ride down a dark secluded road, or in other places rolled a grenade on me (Fragging) ...and I would've never seen it coming or who rolled it! My family would then have received a "He was killed in action notice, a purple heart with my remains!" In the latter example, they were my own people wanting to do that to me, for NOTHING!!-So when you did what you did some years ago, your reputation, and friendships were on the line, yet you stood up for what you believed anyway. I related to that, and it appealed to me, and I have never stopped respecting you because of it. You have to be spiritually free and morally confident in order to do such a thing without repentance! So I just wanted you to know how I feel about your involvement here, and your passion for serving your community .-Mr. Manuel annoys a lot of people in doing what he does, and all you have to do is to watch these forums to prove this, but he stands up in this community, fights for what he thinks is right, and I got much respect for that too! It is a good thing, an admirable thing to be involved in making a community a better place to live, because that in itself enhances and supports having a better life.-I have agreed many times in the past with both of you and just as many times I butted heads with both of you for what I thought was right. Let me be clear about that.-However, allow me to be just as clear, that I continue to stand firmly behind the Mayor and City Manager of LM concerning of what is transpiring here, because I know what is at stake, and I can see the big picture. I think you ( Earlybird ) have the ability to see it too, you are just not looking.-You say Osteen butted heads with HOCKING? I'm glad, it is not a bad thing to see a little head butting every once in a while as long as it is for a good cause and not a disruptive thing. Good for Osteen! It shows he is on the job! Hocking apologized you say? Good for Hocking, It shows he is aware of what he was sent there to do, LEAD!!!!!!-Let me say something to you and Mr. Manuel. How about focusing on getting Mr. Osteen re-elected and not trying to cast a bad light on the Mayor, and City Manager, because keeping Mr. Osteen in office is unquestionably the best avenue to take now in order to most effectively serve LM right now. That is the way I see it, maybe yall see it a different way. -I also recognize division and hostility trying to creep back into this community. All of those "LONG DAY" "PARKIN LOT" conversations and critiques on ethnic leadership along with the makeup of citizens who were mostly using city facilities are taking it's toll. Even you stood tall and admitted you were involved in the parking lot rhetoric. Now, I have to also inform you that you have a lot of "NEGATIVE COLLATERAL" with me my friend, so I believed your explanation as it pertained to your involvement, nonetheless, what happened left an ugly and hurtful residue in it's wake, which seems to be haunting and dividing this community now.-Lastly, I want to say this, there are no obstacles or roadblocks stopping the accusedindividual from going and taking a polygraph test. It is not required "THAT EVERYBODY TAKES A LIE DETECTOR TEST TO PROVE ONE PERSON IS TELLING THE TRUTH!" If the accused wants to prove her innocence, she needs no other individuals to be tested other than herself! If she is telling the truth, I WILL LEAD THE MOB TO CITY HALL DEMANDING THE MAYOR AND CITY MANAGER BE REPLACED! -I'm still wondering why we can't talk about the "THREE AMIGO" and the damage done while Mr. Gage ramrodded things here,....and the condition the city was in when he finally left here. ( bookkeeping,& his salary and exit benefits too ). -

Mr. JBG, being popular as you know has never been why I do what I have done, however when I investigate and learn the facts about something, I don't mind holding someone's feet to the fire expecting an explanation when something just doesn't seem right.

You yourself have said here in the forum that you don't personally know Bobby Hocking nor does he know you, so how can you stand up and speak for someone that you claim to not even know? I'm just curious?

Bobby and my family are friends and I personally cherish that friendship, but for the few friends that I allow into my life I would like to think that if he saw something that any of us were doing that was wrong then I would expect that he would tell me or us and likewise, that's just what honest friends do with one another.

No one is bad mouthing Bobby or Carol by any means, but at this point everyone at city hall is involved in this same mess and should be given the same opportunity for the investigation to be completed by the Olson law firm who should be given ALL of the facts including the final polygraph results and not just what the city wants them to have.

Whether you know it or not, I'm still today being called a "racist" by many people over at the school district even though I came to the defense of two African American men who I had NEVER met before and who were being illegally fired back in 2011 by the school district.

They can call me what they want because I know who I am and God knows what is in my heart and that's ALL I need to do what I do! It's so easy to claim someone is racist if you indeed want to fire people up, but with no proof to support that claim then it to me destroys someone's own credibility.

If no one has anything to worry about then Council woman Trube shouldn't be the only one to take a polygraph test, EVERYONE should volunteer in order to show that they too want the truth to come out, otherwise their claims are just weak political tactics out of a weathered political play book and nothing more than just he said/she said.

I may not always do what's popular by some people, but one things for sure and that's that I will always give every ounce of energy that I have in my being to take care of those who live, work and are being educated in our community.

Your right Robert, La Marque is no longer the city that so many of us once knew.

Thank goodness the election is finally over today. After today, I'm sure Deanna and James Bethea's name will forever linger and change how people trust and associate with one another at the voting polls during each election cycle from now on?

It's time for the Bethea's to stow away all of their hidden video recorders, CLEAT and the police union to throw away all of their well orchestrated game plans and now prepare for the massive clean up that they all intentionally created by being such sore losers and dividing our community in order to serve their own personal agendas.

I believe this election has been the worst display of desperation shown by a political candidate and their supporters that I have ever witnessed in all of my 34 years of voting in LM and hopefully it will be the last..... [sad]

I pray that the voters of District B vote for the most qualified and experienced candidate for this council seat because the city of LM and the person elected will obviously have a lot of work to do in order to move us forward once again.

Missionary Man, if folks that are public officials kept their little comments to themselves then recorders and cameras wouldn't be necessary.[wink] I blame the spending of $10k on the tongue waggers, not the messengers. If these little comments had never been made, there wouldn't be any issues. Think about it.

Mr. Manuel,You say that you and the Mayor are friends, okay by me. I'm not his friend. All I have backing my opinion of the man is the fruits he has produced in his life that I am aware of. ( Matthew 7:16: )-"You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?"-I don't have to be his FRIEND for that! If that methodology for determining the moral turpitude of a man was alright with Jesus Christ, you can be sure is alright with me. Now, YOU might have a problem with that, I don't! -You said NOBODY is bad- mouthing BOBBY and CAROL, well I beg to differ my friend. At the very least we should somehow come to an agreement on the straight-up definition of what BAD MOUTHING means to each of us, because both the Mayor and the City Manager of LM have be VELIFIED in this form in the last week or so since that INCIDENT with that tape and the happenings on that city parking lot!-After that, we are now hearing about all kinds of happening at City Hall taking place years ago, which has nothing to do with that TAPE and what is on it! It is the Ole if you find DIRT here, WE can find dirt, from last year over yonder stuff.-My question remains if anyone were aware of any impropriety going on in any part of City government and by anybody, WHY is it now, coming to the forefront, after Mr. and Ms. Bethea released that very telling and damaging tape of City Officials showing their bad character by spewing out of their mouths what they should not have?-Listen, you are entitled to your opinion, I don't mind that "ah Tall"....but I've been having and expressing my own for many years, even the face of danger, at the threat of bodily harm. I really don't think I'm going to quit anytime soon. -Hey, you're doing an admirable job representing, keep punching.....and I hope Mr. Osteen wins. He is not the one who should be getting pushed off of council, but there is one who in my opinion does not belong there! ( Just my opinion ).

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